Hydraulic press



Patented Feb. 3, 1053 Viggo Berthel sen, Hellerup, Denmark, assignor to V. Berthelsen Engineering Works Inc., a

corporation of Illinois Application February 5, 1948, Serial No. 6,401 ,l p

In Denmark February 5, 1946 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires Februaryfi, 1966 3 Claims. (o1. 144- -2s1) The present invention relates to improvements in hydraulic presses having a fixed and a movable press platen. l

It is the main object of the invention to provid a press of the kind referred to which is very simple and cheap in construction and which enables presses of different capacity to be con structed from certain standard construction elements.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a press, of the kind referred to in which a frame construction is used and in which tensions from heating of the press platens can be avoided in a simple manner.

Further objects and advantages of the press according to the invention willappear from the following specification:

Reference will now be made to the accompany ing drawing in which Figure 1 isJa'pe'r'spective view of the press according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view through one of the spacer tubes and stiffening elements, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 isan end view of the rear of as shown in Fig. 1. V

The press shown in the drawing comprises a series of spaced vertically positioned U-shaped columns I, upper horizontal beams 5 and lower horizontal beams 6.. The beams Sand 6 are suitably secured rigidly to the columns I in any desired manner, such as by welding, and arranged substantially as shown in the drawing. For the purposes of this disclosure, I shall consider each of the two vertical beams l, which are held in position by the respective upper beam 5 and lower beam 6, as a frame. In this frame construction I have provided a fixed press platen 2 anchored to the frames 1 and to the lower face of beams 5 the press so that it forms a longitudinal stiffening element,

for the frame construction. The. press platen 2 is constructed accordin tofny co-pending application Serial No. 6,402, filed February 5, 1948. As shown in the drawing, the platen 2 comprises a top 2a, bottom 21), and side walls and 2d. In the interior of this platen is provided vertical partitions in the form of plates extending longitudinally in the platen and preferably welded to the top and bottom walls 211, 2?) respectively. The length of these partitions is slightly shorter than the total length of the platen, and the partitions are alternately arranged to engage one or the other of the two end walls to form a continuous tortuous or sinuous channel 2 through which a heating medium, such as steam, is designed to pass wherechannel 2 are provided with outlets, not shown, whereby to admit and withdraw the steam through conduits, not shown, as will be understood by those skilled in the art and as shown in U. S. Patents 2,094,862 and 2,108,920.

It should be noted that the direction of the partitions is transverse to the direction of the frame beams 5 and 6, whereby the press platen itself contributes to make the whole press rigid in the longitudinal direction of the platen. The necessity of a heavy casing to provide this. rigidness is thereby avoided.

In order to obtain the necessary rigidness of the press at the bottom of the frames also, further stiffening elements 8 are also provided between and connecting the lower beams 6 where by they are in alignment with the respective upper beams 5. On each of the lower beams 6 I have provided two press cylinders in whichpistons are simultaneously movable serving to operate a lower press platen 3 which is raised or lowered from the under-surface or face of the upper platen 2. For the operation of the lower platen, I provide a hydraulic pump which, however, is not shown in the drawings because the construction of the pump and its connection with the cylinder can be of any kind known to those skilled in the art. i

By heating the upper platen 2 it will expand and in order to avoid any distortion at the lower end of the frame due to this expansion, the lower stiifening elements 8 are simultaneously heated substantially to the same amount as the upper platen 2.

The lower stiffening elements 8 may simply consist of bolts and these may be heated.

In the preferred embodiment, however, as shown in the drawing, the stiffening elements 8 are hollow conduits which are connected at one end by conduit tube 1. The steam returning from the press platens is passed through a conduit tube 9 from the outlet pipe ID of the platen 3 to one end of the tube 8, and exhausted from the other end of conduit 8 to a steam return-line (not shown), and thence to the usual source of supply. The heating of the press platen by steam is very old in the art and is obvious to those skilled in the art, and as shown in U. S. Patents Nos. 2,094,862 and 2,108,920.

In order to keep the lower beams 6, spaced apart I surround the stiffening elements 8 through which the steam is passing with. spacer tubes 8 corresponding to the set distance between the lower beams 6.

It will be understood that a press of this kind can be constructed with more or less frames according to the desired size, but that the same type of frames with similar cylinders mounted on similar lower beams as heretofore described will form a basic element in presses of any capacity so that only the relative size of the press platen will be different.

It has been found advantageous to use two or more cylinders in each frame as a more even distribution of the pressure and the stress transferred to the frame construction will be obtained.

Because the stiffening elements 8 will expand when heat is applied to them it will be preferred when mounting the press only to arrange a fixed connection with the base at one of the frames and simultaneously provide sliding surfaces at the other frames relatively to the base 50 that the expansion and contraction at the bottom will not give rise to any tension either in the press or in the base.

It will also be understood that the construction described can be used in any sort of presses for instance, in veneering presses, oil presses or the like.

A press of the kind described above is especially designed for use in joiners workshops or smaller factories for example, for cabinet makers for the purpose of veneering Wooden surfaces and the pressure under which the veneering can take place will be sufficient for most purposes.

I claim:

1. In a press of the character described, a pair of spaced substantially rectangular frames, a

hollow platen having inlet and outlet openings for steam and being rigidly connected to said frames at one end thereof, hydraulic cylinders at the other end of each of said frames, a second platen having inlet and outlet openings for steam and being movably arranged in said frames in alignment with said fixed platen, said movable platen being shiftable in said frame by said hydraulic cylinders, a, hollow rigid construction between and connected to said frames opposite said fixed platen and a steam conduit for passing steam through said hollow construction.

2. In a press of the character described, a pair of spaced substantially rectangular frames, a hollow platen having inlet and outlet openings for steam and being rigidly connected to said frames at one end thereof, hydraulic cylinders at the other end of each of said frames, a second platen having inlet and outlet openings for steam and being movable in said frames and in alignment with said fixed platen, said movable platen being shiftable in said frame by said hydraulic cylinders, a hollow rigid construction between and connected to said frames at the end opposite said fixed platen, and a steam conduit between the outlet of one of said platens and said hollow construction whereby the steam from said platen will pass to and through said hollow construction. i

3. In a press of the class described comprising a pair of spaced rectangular frame constructions each comprising two substantially vertical columns connected at their top and lower ends by substantially horizontal beams, a hollow platen having inlet and outlet, openings for steam and being rigidly connected to said frames and to the inner face of said upper beams, a hydraulic cylinder for each'of said frames secured to the inner face of said lower beam, a second hollow platen having inlet and outlet openings for steam and being movable within said frames toward and away from said fixed platen and in alignment therewith, said hydraulic cylinders operating said movable platen, steam tubes passing through the lower beams of said frames, spacers surrounding said steam tubes abutting at their ends against adjacent beams, and a steam conduit between an outlet in one of said platens and one end of said steam tubes.

VIGGO BERTHELSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 273,723 Goff Mar. 13, 1883 585,906 Carter July 6, 1897 669,216 Grunig Mar. 5, 1901 762,549 Nichols June 14, 1904 1,206,656 Benedictus Nov. 28, 1916 2,094,862 Welch Oct. 5, 1937 2,108,920 Humiston Feb. 22, 1938 

